1. Field of Invention
Devices for harvesting or collecting mother's milk.
2. Prior Art
None known. To the best of my knowledge, when it has been desired to harvest mother's milk in the past, this has been done simply by collecting the same in a plastic bag, bottle, or the like, and no particular device especially designed for the harvesting of mother's milk and especially adapted for that purpose, especially with all the advantages of the presently-presented device, has heretofore been known.
It is, however, well known that mother's milk is today highly regarded from the standpoint of nutrition and that breast feeding is highly recommended by most if not all pediatricians. It is also well known that excessive milk production can lead to extreme discomfort and the necessity of breast pumping which is itself extremely uncomfortable. Further, when mother's milk has been collected, it has ordinarily been collected by stripping to relieve the discomfort where breast pumping was not employed. Moreover, it is also well known that, as a mother breast feeds her infant from one breast, the milk "lets down" bilaterally, by which is meant that the available mother's milk exudes from both breasts. It is at this time that the collection of breast milk is most effectively carried out, in view of the fact that the mother's milk can be collected on the side or from the breast not being used for feeding. The amount may vary from one ounce to two ounces, more or less. The device of the invention is not limited to employment during feeding, but of course can be employed at any time when the mother feels that her milk "lets down". Since breast milk can be frozen for up to several weeks in an ordinary refrigerator/freezer and up to six months in a chest or deep freezer, preservation of the mother's milk is now a simple matter. Additional collections can be added to previously frozen collections but, to prevent spoilage, additional collections should be cooled before adding to already frozen mother's milk. Milk may, of course, be stored in a simple plastic bag and then poured into a conventional infant feeding bottle for administration, but this is generally inconvenient and employs a plurality of steps and suffers from the essential drawback of collecting in a plastic bag and pouring therefrom, where the bag is not particularly adapted for the purpose involved.
For the more convenient harvesting and utilization of the extremely valuable mother's milk, it is apparent that an improved harvesting and utilization device would be highly desirable and would fulfill a long-standing need in the art.